I recognize that smile, it’s the one we all wore when we were younger, some of us still have it – but it’s largely absent from the print media.
Most covers feature some intently focused predator holding a flabby Salmo, whose truculent glare is undiluted by $100 sunglasses. The guys in the advertisements don’t smile, the guys in the pinups are serious as death, and at best we get some half hearted grimace – because the fellow snapping the pic forgot to say “cheese.”
These guys … these guys are fishermen, Brownliners even – and the smile is the same on all our faces; wide as all creation, fulsome, packed with teeth, as we struggle to answer the question just asked of us …
“You gonna Eat that?”
That’s a purported world record carp pictured below, 260 pounds of toxin augmented muscle, with an IQ of at least Epsilon Semi-Moron, and probably has 14 different nicknames, one for each of the small children that vanished from lake’s edge.
Me, I let the fish go – the question’s answered by my actions, and the onlooker’s melt away.
The surge of adrenalin is wearing off, and the fellow on the right realizes he’s the sudden recipient of a lot of protein, and unless he has a really big family, he’ll need an even bigger shovel…
Dripping wet, standing in mud, and a smile as wide as all that, gotta love ’em.
A good point – the fun has vanished from the faces of the fishing ads. That looks fun – of course, I eat that fish – I mean a fish that big it turns into eat or be eaten.
I’d characterize it as a “clip” fish, meaning, I wouldn’t reach for my fly until I’d emptied a full clip at it.
Fingers is precious.
I’m guessing there’s no “anti-noodling” regulations there. You do it once and if you’re successful, nobody hears from you again.